Guild Wars 2

Hey I’m just trying to get a good power build for my necro with Staff and Axe/focus, my utility skills are blood fiend, blood is power, spectral walk and spectral armor (to gain life force) and flesh golem

My stats are
30 II/VIII/VII
0
10 V
0
30 II/VIII/III

I’m a total noob and any help is appreciated:) the only thing I don’t wanna change are my weapons I’m so comfortable with them but if I really must then I will

Just off the top of my head….

I would swap Blood Fiend for Consume Conditions, it is a much better heal than the Blood Fiend outside of MM builds. It is also another form of condition removal, which is often required in the current meta.

Take at least Well of Suffering (I take Well of Corruption as well). This will give you much more pressure on a node, and is quite good damage in a power build. If you take both of the wells I recommended, your third utility is optional, but I take Signet of Undeath for the res (talking Tournaments now though).

I find Flesh Golem to be the most versatile elite on Necros, but Lich Form is also extremely potent as a power Necro.

As far as traits go, you haven’t done too badly. The point distribution is pretty solid, but some of your chosen traits aren’t as good as they sound.

Taking Spiteful Talisman is not necessary given your need to be at 600 range with axe, and the cooldowns (I find) are usually low enough without the trait that they are available when needed. You could take Reaper’s Might here instead, but it isn’t crucial to change this one.

Spiteful Marks is definitely not as good as taking Close to Death (Grandmaster Spite trait). Having Close to Death increases your damage by a much larger output, and isn’t limited to the weapon set you have equipped/active.

Within Soul Reaping, Unyeilding Blast is a much better choice over Vital Persistence, and rewards good positioning with AoE potential from Life Blast (which hits like a truck in power Necro builds).

Path of Midnight should be swapped for Deathly Perception as the +50% crit chance while in Death Shroud is just huge.

The last 10 points are fairly optional, and taking Staff Mastery isn’t a bad choice, however I find Weakening Shroud (10 points in Curses) is great for mitigating otherwise unavoidable damage through the weakness application (~25% overall damage reduction).

I have been playing power Necro for months now, and have settled with this build. Take what you like from it, but I find it quite versatile and formidable. Note: It has no stability/stun breaks, so you may like to swap Signet of Undeath for Spectral Walk/Armor as it can be punished heavily by Stun Warriors and the like.

Hope that helps,
Ice

Here is a build you can try:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQRBHbhG2IjWxelm2G/eCA6Rv16cMDkPm+Q5A-TsAg0EBpCyFkJIZQ2gGUsKYTwkAA

This build packs as much Power/Attack as you can pack (almost), and is still fairly resistant (using Last Gasp, Spectral Armor, Plague form and DS + weakening shroud).

Your main weapon set is Axe/Focus (secondary dagger/horn), and Axe 2 does a lot of damage, especially for enemies below the 50% HP threshold, if you have packed vulne on them (you get around +40% damage then – often more – coupled with high power/high crit).
Dagger AA does a lot of dmg too, less bursty than Axe, but consistent dmg when your enemy is immobilised, down, etc. (axe hits will connect more though, because it is ranged).

The build has a lot of synergies for offense (e.g. “signet of spite” + target the weak = +12% damage, not using the signet gives you power and using it too, can stack vulnerability quite easily with the “well of suffering” + axe AA + Focus 4).
The rune set stacks some more power and gives you -20% condi duration (always useful, and with the heal consume condis, you have basic condi removal).

For mobility, you switch to Dagger/Horn (Horn 5 to run from one point to another).
You can prevent enemies from coming your way with Dagger 3, Horn 4, etc. + fear and this way you can often decap a point 1v1 and then hold your ground for a while, particularly if you turtle using DS, spectral armor, DS again and then plague form.

You will use Death Shroud defensively mainly (extra HP, weaking shroud) and offensively too (Furious demise for fury, path of midnight for faster DS skill recharge).

All in all, this is a well rounded build that does a lot of things decently but it might not be suitable for a tPvP setup if you are needed in a specific role (works OK for soloQ though).
I still think that power builds with necro lack in “oompf” to be honest, and it is a lot of effort to play.

google ventari’s power necro, it freaking melts face

Axe isn’t nearly as good as dagger imo for a power necro build. Dagger mainhand hits like a truck on auto and you can generate lots of lifeforce with it. It also has a great immobilize to make your opponent stand in your well.

Here’s my power necro build that I played for a while:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBIhZakRrSPTzTjePhA949wFnJqwwQ9YdYnPE-TsAg0CnIQShkDJDSSksINo4Yx8DA

infantrydiv.1620:

Axe isn’t nearly as good as dagger imo for a power necro build. Dagger mainhand hits like a truck on auto and you can generate lots of lifeforce with it. It also has a great immobilize to make your opponent stand in your well.

Here’s my power necro build that I played for a while:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBIhZakRrSPTzTjePhA949wFnJqwwQ9YdYnPE-TsAg0CnIQShkDJDSSksINo4Yx8DA

I agree that dagger mainhand hits harder than axe when considering auto attacks. The immobilize is also great. However the OP said he would prefer to use Axe/Focus, which isn’t terrible, so that is what I worked around. Don’t neglect Ghastly Claws (axe 2), which offers a decent burst of damage and also generates Life Force, and Unholy Feast is an AoE boon removal and cripple, and gives retaliation based on number of foes struck (the retaliation isn’t huge, but isn’t entirely negligible either, especially on a power build).

Also, when traited with Axe Training, the axe holds the highest Life Blast damage (it becomes stronger than staff, which is typically considered the best), so axe certainly isn’t a terrible option, it just can’t hold a target down and deal the raw DPS of a dagger.

dagger/dagger
axe/focus
rampager gear
might runes
sigil of geomancy + something else for other maybe stack sigil
consume condis/blood is power/well of suffering/well of darkness/golem
30/25/0/0/15
chill on blind, life blast traits, dhuumfire, maybe chill at 25% or axe trait, enfeebling blood

very fun to play

Icetrinity.3804:

Also, when traited with Axe Training, the axe holds the highest Life Blast damage (it becomes stronger than staff, which is typically considered the best), so axe certainly isn’t a terrible option, it just can’t hold a target down and deal the raw DPS of a dagger.

I wish they increased the Axe auto attack damage a bit to make it more viable, or maybe make the AA a “mid-range cleave” attack.